In environments with high suicide rates, such as medical facilities, prisons, detention centers, and mental health facilities, various structures within a room of the facility could be used as attachment or anchor points in suicide attempts. These anchor points can be used as attachment points for ligatures (e.g., rope, sheets, fabric, string, and the like) where the ligature is used by an individual to commit suicide by strangulation. Furthermore, an individual need not be fully suspended to commit suicide by hanging. Indeed, death by hanging or strangulation can occur while a person is partially suspended or in a kneeling, lying down, or seated position.
To prevent this from happening, rooms and fixtures may be designed to remove or minimize fixtures with such anchor points. Ligature anchoring points may be doors, grab bars, handles, towel bars, ceiling fans, door knobs and the like. Ligature anchoring points may also be dispensers, such as towel, liquid, or foam soap dispensers. Existing dispensers typically have a general box shape, which can allow for ligature anchoring to the top or to corners. Moreover, many dispensers are made from plastic materials that can easily be cracked or distorted allowing easier access to edges or corners from which to anchor a ligature.
In addition, wall-mounted dispensers can have a gap between the mounting surface and the dispenser, or are made from materials that can be bent or pulled from the mounting surface to create gaps for ligature anchoring. U.S. Pat. No. 9,585,528 discloses an anti-ligature system that includes sharp fixtures positioned to cut any ligature positioned between the dispenser and the mounting surface. However, skilled artisans will appreciate that significant damage to an individual may still occur even in the short amount of time that it takes for a ligature to be severed by these fixtures. Furthermore, these fixtures potentially become exposed sharp edges that present additional hazards.
Additional gaps or ligature anchor points can be created by the actuation system of existing dispensers. A typical dispenser utilizing manual actuation may include a lever type system with an externally accessible push bar. Once the push bar is depressed, it creates a gap between the push bar and the dispenser housing that can be used as an anchor point for a ligature. Such lever mechanisms are disclosed in, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,991,655 and 6,701,573.
Therefore, there remains a need in the art for dispensers with improved anti-ligature safety features without sacrificing significant mechanical efficiency.